We go through our graduate lives, getting expertise around specific questions, constructing our particular positions with adherence to specific theories. Along the way, with increased isolation, we lose track of how other frameworks approach the central debates that occupy much of our thinking. While the image of the isolated modern scholar still informs the imaginaries that travel within the culture of academics, there is another type emerging, especially from the collaborative spaces and interdisciplinary environments, which recognize the significance of encountering different perspectives in the process of knowledge production for developing a relationship to truth. This is how we learn not to rely on concrete assumptions, by being ‘kept on our toes’, so to speak. It is through the discussions that we can sharpen our arguments, and get a better grasp of where we stand in relation to literatures that define the landscape of our academic inquiries. However, in this high-speed culture, it may become hard to find the timespace and human networks through which we could reflect on our thinking and let out our inarticulate thoughts; let alone encountering other schools of thought that would contribute to our work through criticism. So, we would like to create a pocket in spacetime where people can bring out their confused thoughts to be untangled in a safe and supporting environment. This practice would demystify the knowledge-production process, and remind us that knowledge is a collective entity, and not the work of a mythical creature who lives in solitary. This group is formed to remind us that we can only read so far! It is time to put those readings into practice; we aim at tackling themes and issues in social sciences through a collective and heterogeneous bibliography.
Thinking in SpaceTime
In spirit of exploring different schools of thought, Thinking in Space Time bi-weekly meetings commit to bringing together diverse perspectives to the table, and discuss certain issues by employing such positions. Each semester a new set of objectives are set, and the issues/topics/concepts are defined in accordance with the general direction of the group. Each discussant selects a certain school of thought for the meeting, and they are expected to change their perspective in every meeting, so as to improve flexibility in thinking.
Volume 0 (Spring 2017)
Thinking in SpaceTime” started its series by discussing ethnographic methodologies. There was no strict structure to those meetings, just human bodies gathered to converse with one another.
Volume 1 (Fall 2017)
In this edition, we have introduced a certain structure for our debates. For each subject of debate people chose a tradition they want to explore and found a text addressing the subject in that tradition. Here are some of the debates we explored during this semester:
- Ontological Turn & Anthropocene
- New Materialism
- Complexity
- Speculation & Futurity
Volume 2 (Spring 2018)
We established the following subjects to tackle this semester. We will employ different schools of thought once again.
- Theory
- Epistemology
- Ontology
- Axiology (ethics)
- Methodology
- Science